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Pearls of Weber

A collection of posts by David Weber containing background information for his stories, collected and generously made available Joe Buckley.

Posted by David at 12:00am

Missile orientation during flight

Series: Honorverse

Date: October 22, 2002

Missiles in the Harrington universe are virtually all seeking
weapons. Their sensor heads are required to maintain lock on their targets (at least once
they are beyond effective, real-time telemetry control from the ship which launched them).
This means that they keep the throats of their wedges oriented on their targets, which is
why it is possible for point defense lasers to kill them at extended ranges. There is no
sidewall or wedge protecting them from the fire or the ship they are attacking; their
wedges do, however, protect them from the defensive fire of other ships which
might attempt to engage them from "above" or "below."